The strategy is not a good one. Because you will be corralled into combat again. And being completely defensive means you are likely to be in a bad position once they start getting shots on you. As maneuverable as Interceptors are, you won't avoid combat entirely. And the strategy will have to change if the opponent gets the first kill.

So planning a first kill, and then avoid combat for the rest of the game is just a pointless endeavor.

Thank you for addressing the point of the thread.

I tend to agree with you, but was just curious to see if anyone thought the odds might be better now.

I think while you can't avoid combat a whole game (of if, you could I'd bet you could just as easily defeat your opponent by many other methods), it certainly helps interceptors to be able to choose their battles as the game is running out rather than having to place themselves in a high risk situation to try and make up the difference.

It's better to fight only on your battlefield, certainly. Why pick a fight when you're at a disadvantage?

In my opinion, a 36" x 36" area is too small to simply run away, even with squints.

4 ships with 12 hull is probably better than 3 ships with 9 hull / 3 shields + stealth, especially against turret lists with Gunner. But it is certainly worth trying out both!

I agree that it is unrealistic to assume you could run even PTL RG so long without other shady techniques like slow playing to help. More than enough has been said on this topic.

Back on point, I don't think that the 12 barrier helps frail ships at all when you are always one bad roll from death. It probably helps sturdy ships and maybe alpha strike lists that can get a lead, but not always finish the deal, much more than it helps Interceptors.

It does help low ship squads be able to climb out of the hole easier. When you lose a third of your squad, it is easier to kill 45 pt vs 66 pts. But on the other hand, it makes it easier for swarms to get full wins, which was a serious issue for them when they ran into mirror squads. In the end, a whole lot of different squads get better at getting full wins, thus better at winning tournaments.

It probably isn't a viable strategy as it is going to place high demands on your abilities ever turn and somewhat hinges o your opponent getting a bit out of sorts chasing you in order to allow you to pounce on stragglers. High risk low reward in my view.

But it absolutely is a valid strategy, Completely supported and legal under then current event rules. Provided you play is at a reasonable pace there is not reason anyone would be able to consider this stalling. The concept that evading your opponents forcing arcs is grounds for removal from an event is seriously misguided.

Perhaps we are looking at the wrong ship for this. I agree that an alpha strike approach will work better, but bombers will have a difficult time avoiding/out maneuvering your opponent. However a tie advanced with engine upgrade can be as tricky to corner as an interceptor, plus can take missiles. Something to think about.

Perhaps we are looking at the wrong ship for this. I agree that an alpha strike approach will work better, but bombers will have a difficult time avoiding/out maneuvering your opponent. However a tie advanced with engine upgrade can be as tricky to corner as an interceptor, plus can take missiles. Something to think about.

Alternatively, use 4x Tempests with Concussions/Clusters

The new rules are fantastic! It is now possible to win by out maneuvering your opponent. 4x RG w/ PtL is a fantastic list now. They can use their speed and agility to only fight on their terms. No, they are not running... its called hitting hard, then getting out of the way. Reset, reposition, then do it again.

I would be really mad if someone intentionally avoided combat most of the game just to get a win.

As long as it's not "I killed your lowest point cost ship on engagement round and now RUN AWAY" I'm fine. I doubt anyone would haw a lot of succession interceptors doing that anyway. They are worth double those points and even when turtled up can be one shot by almost anything. I'm sure we'll see a lot more break offs as 5 min warnings occur, but any interceptor pilot worth his wings can avoid arcs and still keep shooting 1-2 rounds. We'll just see more incentive to 5 green + boost + evade in the closing round rather than Kturn and pray or 2 turn and turtle.

Again, this is a strategy that requires a lot of ifs. IF you get the first kill. IF you are able to run and avoid combat (the board is small enough, that the remaining 2-6 ships should be able to corral you into taking some shots).

So for what it's worth, I attended the monthly tournament at my local store today, flying the following:

- Carnor Jax

- 2 Royal Guard Pilots

- All of which were equipped with the Royal Guard Title, PTL, Stealth Device and a Shield Upgrade (100pts).

The event consisted of three matches, in each of which I flew the two guard as a pair and Jax as slow flying bait separately, that struck once the time was right.

I don't remember the exact details of the enemy squads, but at a high level, they went as follows:

1. 2 Firesprays

2. Luke, Biggs and a heavily outfitted Y-Wing

3. Wedge and 2 B-Wings

The first and third games I won 100-0, though I was tempted to employ this strategy with the Firesprays - I would have in fact, but found that with positioning it was possible to take him out almost risk free. So I did.

The second game was more interesting. I managed to take Biggs out fairly quickly and - because of positioning - decided to take on (and beat) Luke. It was a bloody affair, but managed to take him out losing only one ship (and the rest were quite damaged). All the while I was trying to stay out of range of the Y-Wing as it would have devastated me if it hit.

About 5-7 minutes remained by then and which point I switched to pure defensive and ran for it. Granted it was a Y-wing, but it was easy to do. Clock ran out and I won a full win (even under the old rules - 68 - 38 I think). I asked my opponent what he thought at the end of it and he said he had no problem - it's what he would have done.

I ended up winning the whole event.

A couple of points that I went away noting:

- Set up the asteroids as close to your edge as possible. With the speed of the interceptors, I spent most of the fight on the enemy's side, which meant I had lots of room to flee away in (and could do so at speed).

- The defensive combination of the squint's 3 agility, PTL's focus and evade as well as the stealth device was just awesomely effective. Seems to me the SD's get a lot of grief mathematically speaking, but for a lot of the time I was rolling 4 or 5 defense dice and at one point, with the help of an asteroid, got to roll 6. I really like this defensive interceptor build.

Granted today was by no means a perfect sample of what I could be up against. I didn't come up against any falcons, swarms or ion weapons, for example.

Tense, nail biting fun and left me feeling this is what squints are all about.